Monday, March 21, 2011

It's Monday Again...

4 days of USDAA in College Station. It had to be one of the smoothest running shows Dog Gone Fun has run, yet! The dirt was OMG, PERFECT. (Those of you that might have skipped because of the SAND BEACH it was before-- you missed out!) It was awesome! The loose and fluffy was a little thick at first, but it packed down quickly and made the surface to die for!

So, Here it goes. Thursday:

Jumpers-- Smack had three bars down. (he was adjusted to the surface that had not yet been packed down) And, they were all in a row... so kind of a domino effect.

Snooker-- He lost his mind. Enough said.

Pairs -- Smack had a bar down (I should have helped him), but Big Bro Cisco and Aunt Renee were clean, so we Q'd. That's #3!

Standard-- *sigh* a gorgeous run, but he fell off of the dogwalk. bummer.

Gamblers -- *bigger sigh* he broke his stay. and got the walk of shame.

Friday:Gamblers --Reall great opening, no gamble.

Standard -- Another spectacular run, but *note to self* : "Work rear crossing the tunnel, when you are on your dog's left, and the tunnel curves to the right." In case you can't picture that:

Pairs -- Smacky ran clean, his partner went off course. Bummer!

Snooker -- It started off a little rocky, but we saved it and ran 1-2-1-7-1-7 and closed for a Q!

Jumpers -- AWESOME run, and got to try out a tricky rear cross that a month ago we couldn't do, but he dropped a bar (Not the one I rear crossed!)

Saturday:

Jumpers -- One bar down. I'll take this one. It was near the end, and we were going along and then I took off for the finish line, and that's the bar he took down... *work on this, work on this, work on this*

Grand Prix -- I was the first dog to run. And boy, do I love this dog because he just lets me ask everything from him and he gives it his all. He put in a time of 32.14. A few others ran... Smack still in the lead... Stacy Peardot-Goudy steps to the line with Maze. Stacy is so confident when she runs, and really went for it knowing I had put in a great time. She did get me, just barely with a time of 31.34. 0.8 of a second difference. WOW. I enjoyed watching Stacy really GO FOR IT, and am SO proud of my little BABY SmackAttack for smackin' down two GP's in a row.

Standard -- Megan, CONTROL yourself. Don't freakin' blip out. WATCH your dog to see that he's actually TURNED *before* BLASTING off towards the next jump. That's what I was telling myself as I watched my dog's gorgeous body sail over an off course jump. Hmph, no MAD title *this* weekend.

Jumpers -- ARGHHH. Last run of the weekend. B-E-A-UTIFUL. I made *every**single**front*, and he knocked the last bar. *sigh* Oh well. I'll get my Jumper Master later. ;-)

So, all in all, this was a GREAT show for me and Smack. I can feel everything clicking and Smack getting FASTER and FASTER.

I have competed in 3 USDAA Shows for the 2011 Qualifying year, and Smack is ready to go to Cynosport. So what if we don't have vouchers?

In two weeks, we go to Kerrville for the 4star event. I *did* fill out an Intent To Compete form for IFCS with Smack. I'm confident in our skills, and I'm looking forward to pushing those skills to the limit and seeing how we fare. I'm on some great teams with AWESOME people, so I'm SO excited! Althought it's just a local trial, there will be the "pressure" of earning IFCS Points. This will be "new" to Smack. That small amount of added pressure. I'm not worried about him. He will do great. And this *isn't* new to me. I'm looking forward to showing my dog off!

Ty had a great time at the trial. He got Snooker and Jumpers legs, and placed in all of them I think. I need to get his eyes checked again; I'm not sure how fast his cataracts are developing, but sometimes during the trial, I felt that he couldn't see *me* or the obstacles, so I don't know how well he's able to *work* the obstacles. I did feel however, that if he couldn't figure out *how*, he would just run by it (a little confused-looking) instead of *guessing* and getting himself hurt.

Tommy did well also. Won some jumpers classes (3/3) and did well in Snooker. He finished his Relay Champion-Gold title! No gambles... bummer. and No standards. I did make some revelations with this see-saw... but his dogwalks were not what I wanted. *sigh* LOTS more work to be done with the little guy.